Integrated Product and Process Engineering (iPPE) (SAP Library - Integrated Product and Process Engineering (iPPE))

Integrated Product and Process Engineering (iPPE)

Purpose

This component enables you to collect and record all the data for the entire life cycle of a product in one integrated model. It is particularly suited to products with many variants. You can use iPPE to document data, and later re-use and update it, from early phases of the product’s research and development process. You can represent a complete production model because iPPE allows you to keep the master data for BOMs, routings, and line design in one model. It is particularly suited to repetitive manufacturing.

You maintain the data in a functional structure, which you fill with more data at later stages in the product development, thus representing the whole product life cycle.

The connection of a digital mockup (DMU) viewer and a CAD program has been realized for the iPPE product structure. This enables you to display materials and assemblies in three-dimensions, and to edit the materials and assemblies.

There is an interface for connecting time analysis products to the process structure (iPPE routing). You can determine processing times and transfer these times to iPPE.

Integration

You require the following components of the SAP R/3 System to use iPPE:

Engineering Change Management
Classification System
Variant Configuration
Document Management System

You must install the iPPE component and maintain the master data for production there, in order to plan material requirements with the Rapid Planning Matrix (RPM). For more information about the above-mentioned components, see Classification, Variant Configuration, Engineering Change Management and Document Management.

Features

In the product structure, you can use the product variant structure and assemblies to maintain BOM data for configurable and non-configurable materials/products.

The process structure can be used to maintain routing data.

The factory layout can be used to maintain the structure and setup of your production lines and the required resources.

Engineering Change Management (ECM) can be used to edit access variants, component variants, assembly items and modes. When you use ECM, the system can make operational use of different change statuses. When you do not use ECM, there is exactly one valid status for each object in the system.

Material requirements planning with the RPM in the SAP Advanced Planner and Optimizer (SAP APO) is based on the master data from iPPE.

The product structure and process structure can be maintained as functional structures when you begin to develop a product. The concrete assignment of materials/products or activities, for example, is not necessary at this stage and can be added to the model at a later phase in product development.

You can use the network graphic to display a model from iPPE as a graphic.